I am stunned by all the responses, all the parents writing to say that they have been pushed out of their children’s lives. I grew up thinking this could not have happened to anyone else. No one else’s mother disappears, which had made me feel deeply ashamed, though I hadn’t named that; I had just felt it somewhere beneath the surface of my heart, because children always assume it is their fault when a parent leaves. I had known my father had something to do with it though. And perhaps my mother had done something bad, something that made him furious.  I knew it wasn’t only my fault.

To offer my words now, to help a parent understand her own child, gives some purpose to my story; to shed a sliver of light that leads the way to the heart of another child, even if they don’t respond. But I…

 I feel conflicted, vacillating between being fully committed to writing down my story and fearful of the outcome. Some days I want to fast forward to the end and the resulting reactions of my father, stepmother, and sisters-to just get it over with. This place we’re in now feels like I’m playing their game, I’m allowing their denial to pollute my life, I’m shushing my spirit again and again, every time that I don’t say what I know is the truth. And yet I also feel that me not distupting the status quo is a requirement for the relationship. I reflect back on all the times I kept quiet because I knew my truth would be met with disdain, or at best dismissed.

I’ve been reading so much about parent alienation these days and so many things my father did were classic of this syndrome. Is that what it is-…

It is beyond my comprehension how so many mental health professionals can entirely miss the extreme psychopathology involved in attachment-based “parental alienation.”  I am truly stunned.

Let me describe just one example, the “exclusion demand” symptom made by children, in which the child demands that the targeted parent no long attends the child’s events.

The Exclusion Demand:

Child: “I don’t want you to come to my baseball games (school open house, dance recital, school awards ceremony, etc.). I get too anxious.”

This “exclusion demand” by the child is often followed with a statement that the child wants the targeted parent to show “respect” for the child’s feelings and “boundaries.”

The “exclusion demand” is among the more common symptoms of pathology displayed by the child in attachment-based “parental alienation.”

Extremely Severe Psychopathology

The “exclusion demand” is a symptom of extreme psychopathology. It floors me how mental health professionals can act…

I was recently asked a question by a targeted parent about the practice in some Courts of considering the wishes of an adolescent in custody placement decisions, and I’d like to share my response.

While I will explain my response in a lengthy post, it’s actually quite simple: 

At no time should the Court ever consider the wishes expressed by the child whenever there is spousal-parental conflict.

Pretty simple.  Now let me explain why.  There are two primary reasons.

First, the authenticity of the child’s expressed wishes may likely have been compromised by a “role-reversal” relationship with the allied and supposedly favored parent (who is likely seeking the admission of the child’s wishes for Court consideration).

Second, whenever there is spousal conflict, seeking the child’s input essentially triangulates the childinto the spousal-parental conflict.  This is EXACTLY the WRONG thing to do.  Bad.  Bad.  Bad.  Extremely destructive.  It not only…

” I feel despair, and a little horror. It bothers me that the country I live in is a place where something like this could happen”

” I am just a simple man. It is hard to stay ahead of the life altering lies spewing from them.”

” Losing my only son has been almost more than I can bear.”

“All three psychologist evaluations found Parental Alienation, even my ex’s “hired gun”.   The Court promised to address it, but in the end, the court just allowed Many people to get rich, and the Court did the opposite of what was promised.   I am devastated, heart-broken and worry for my child all the time.”

“Today is Lorna’s 15th birthday. Sent her a message at midnight wishing her a happy birthday. My millennium child- only child. I love & miss her, but not her actions toward me. It sucks to…